Protection For Air And Sea Travellers

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31277, 25 January 1967, Page 19

Protection For Air And Sea Travellers

Improved protection for passengers travelling to and from New Zealand by air or sea has heen made possible by New Zealand’s decision, early in 1966, to participate in the United States Coast Guards* Automated Merchant Vessel Report system. Before New Zealand decided to co-operate in the extension of the A.M.V.E.R. system to the south-west Pacific the proposal was studied by representatives of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the Marine Department, the Post Office, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, ship owners, and the Department of Civil Aviation. ,

The Department of Civil Aviation, as co-ordinating authority for search and rescue, accepted the task of co-ordinating a plan for New Zealand participation in the system, and provided a New Zealand liaison officer. The system operates through merchant ships of all nations, which radio sailing plans and positions to the A.M.V.E.R. centre in New York. This information is fed into a computer, which calculates and maintains deadreckoned positions of the vessels. Characteristics of the vessels which may be of value in search and rescue work, such as the medical facilities

on board, are also fed into the computer. This information on the position and characteristics of vessels near the scene of an emergency is made available to recognised search and rescue agencies. Three agencies will be able to request such information as a result of New Zealand’s participation in the scheme: the Marine Department, and the Oceanic Rescue Co-ordination Centres at Auckland and Nandi, Fiji. Each day rescue co-ordina-tion centres receive lists of vessels within a certain distance of the main aircraft routes, and this information is supplied for air-crew briefings as well as in emergencies.

The present comprehensive A.M.V.E.R. system started as a manual plot of American coastal waters maintained by the United States Coast Guard. In 1958, a computer was installed, and the area of operation extended to mid-Atlantic.

By early 1965, vessels of more than 60 nations were co-operating in the programme, and the computer “memory" contained a list of 17,000 merchant ships and their characteristcs. Three thousand separate vessels were plotted on 6000 separate sea passages each month. Calls by New Zealand

By this time the system covered the entire North Atlantic, and during an aver-

age month up to 100 requests for information were answered. The predicted positions of vessels were found to be accurate with 25 to 50 miles. Late in 1965, the New York centre installed improved electronic data processing equipment and additional communications facilities which made possible the extension of the system to additional areas, including the South Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

Since New Zealand began participating in the A.M.V.E.R. system, it has made several calls on it, the most notable being at the time of the Kaitawa disaster.